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Controlling
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the pro-choice and
pro-life controversy of receiving an abortion.

I. Introduction

A. Definition of
abortion.

II. Thesis
statement

A. Pro-choice

B. Pro-Life

III. The views

A. The moral
viewpoint

B. The murder
viewpoint

C. The
restriction viewpoint

D. The parental
consent viewpoint

E. The rape
justification viewpoint

F. The safe
viewpoint

IV. Conclusion

A. First
Amendment

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Abortion:
Pro-Choice or Pro-Life

“ But oh,
thrice guilty is he who drove her to desperation which impelled her
to the crime [abortion]” (Susan B. Anthony, 1869). In the Scott,
Foresman Advanced Dictionary, Thorndike and Barnhart defined abortion
as the removal of a developing embryo or fetus from the uterus to
terminate a pregnancy before birth resulting in death of the fetus
(3).

The abortion
issue has become one of the world’s most controversial problems of
today. This issue is divided into two sides, pro-life and pro-choice.
They focus on different aspects of receiving an abortion. At one end
we have the pro-choice advocate—those who focus on women’s right.
The pro-choice supporters have reason to believe the fetus is only a
potential human being. It has no right whatsoever, because the right
belongs to the woman carrying the fetus, and it is she who decides on
the length of time of the pregnancy. On the other end we have the
pro-life —those who oppose abortion and focus on the fetus rights.
They believe the fetus is a human being and has just as much legal
right as the parents.

The Bible states
that everybody was created in the image of God. Therefore, taking the
life of an innocent child is like killing the image of God. In the
Bible, God said that thou shall not murder. Webster’s Dictionary
and Thesaurus has defined murder as the unlawful and intentional
killing of a human being (133).

Is abortion
moral or immoral? According to pro-life supporters, the unborn child
is entrusted to the protection and care of the mother carrying it and
yet the majority of the

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time it is the
mother herself who makes the choice of whether or not the child
should be aborted. The decision to abort the child may have come from
problems dealing with the health of the mother or standard or living
for the family. However, these excuses never justify the intentional
killing of an innocent person.

Many people
claim that an embryo is not considered human life. Supporters believe
that human life starts at the fertilization of the ovum. Human life
is sacred at every moment of existence.

In the opinion
of pro-choicer advocate, birth is not always the right choice,
because it may be “socially disfunctional, morally irresponsible,
or even cruel.” (Abortion, 24) Many women who knew that life would
only bring pain for their children choose to have an abortion. They
feel that it would be better if the child wasn’t born at all.

Even though it
kills human life, abortion is in fact, the moral choice to make when
would be mothers are as certain that their present circumstances do
not enable them to raise a would-be child responsibly. Contrary to
popular accusations it is not the decision to abort, but the decision
to have a child that is treated with the insufficient gravity in our
society (Quinn, Abortion, 25).

To many pro-life
advocates, abortion is a form of holocaust. They have compared
abortion to the Nazi’s termination of the Jews. The number of
aborted babies is staggering: 4,000 on a daily basis, over 1.6million
annually, and over 30 million in the 20 years after the United States
Supreme court gave it proabortion decision in 1973. On a

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yearly basis
from 50 to 60 million abortions have been performed worldwide. The
Nazi’s killed at least six million Jews.

The Nazi’s
killed the Jews and, instead of burying them they put them in
crematory ovens and huge ditches. Burning in hospital furnaces or
city incinerators exposes of many of the aborted babies. Pro-life
groups prefer that the bodies be disposed with dignity, a Christian
burial.

Pro-choicest Don
Sloan believes that an embryo is not a baby because it can only exist
inside a woman’s uterus. Some people think of abortion as a
self-defense rather than a murder because the woman is defending her
health, her way of life, and her piece of mind against something that
is not wanted. Sloan, like other pro-choice supporters, believe that
everyone have a right and a say-so in the abortion issue.

School officials
are not allowed to hand out aspirin to children without the
permission of the parents, so why should they be able to have an
abortion without consent? To pro-lifers, parents should be involved
in abortion decision-making for teens because legally, they are
responsible.

The idea of
notifying parents in advance when any of discussion goes on with
regard to their children health and welfare and that includes
abortion. As long as the parents are responsible for their sexuality
laws are written to stipulate what is right and wrong. And when it
comes to a law that affects parental rights, I think there is a
responsibility to come out on the side of the parents (Gow, Abortion,
96).

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Parental
notification is one of these troubling topics that confound many.
Many states such as Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, and
Kansas require parental notification before a minor is required to
obtain an abortion. States were parental consent is required include
Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Ohio.

Pro-choicers
feel that these laws are unconstitutional and they are a violation of
the pregnant child. They feel that this could harm the girls’
health and may drive the teen to have an illegal abortion to avoid
telling their parents. Legislators who disagree with abortion believe
that the parental-consent laws will scare teens into abstinence.
However, in states with these laws, sexual intercourse rates don’t
decrease, but their health risks, however, increases. Young people
are frightened by these laws only when they have become impregnated
and need help desperately.

There is
evidence that teenagers who do no involve their parents [in deciding
about abortion] believe that involving their parents would not be
their own best interests or try to protect their parents (Abortion,
98).

V. Many people
believe that rape justifies abortion. To them, pregnancies resulting
from rape are bothersome and involuntary, and should be approached by
providing suitable counseling. On the other hand, the pro-life
advocates feel that rape doesn’t justify abortion.

Opponents of
abortion rights walk a fine line when they condone any abortion.
Based on their own definition, they are guilty of being accessories
to “murder” in certain circumstances by accepting rape and incest
exceptions (Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, 135).

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It is not moral
to hate a person because of the way they were conceived. Rape is a
violent act received by a woman. That makes her an innocent victim.
Abortion, no matter the reason, is a violent act received by an
unborn child from the woman carrying it. What does this makes the
unborn child?

With an average
of 1.5 million abortions performed every year since its legalization
in 1973, abortion is the most common surgical procedure for women.
Most medical professionals agree that the earlier an abortion is
performed, the safer it is for the woman. The pro-life advocates have
shown studies that women who have had abortions have a 50 percent
increased risk for breast cancer. This increased revealed by the
studies means that women face a higher risk of dying from the effects
of an abortion than of dying in childbirth. The first trimester of a
normal pregnancy is marked by a surge of hormones from the mother’s
ovaries, which makes her breast grow. The high estrogen levels of
early pregnancy interact with hormones of late pregnancy and produces
breast milk. If the pregnancy is terminated artificially, the
growth-stimulating effects of the estrogen surge help primitive and
abnormal cells to grow in possible cancers.

However, the
pro-choice supporters have found that many medical studies have shown
that a woman’s reproductive history affects her risk of breast
cancer. The risks associated with abortion are insignificant compared
with other well-documented breast cancer risks, such as alcohol
consumption and weight. Furthermore, studies on the link between
breast cancer and abortion have reached contradictory conclusions.

The First
Amendment to the United States Constitution states that everyone has
the freedom of speech, or of press; therefore, different people
should have different

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opinions. There
are many questions people should consider about the issue of
abortion. They are as follows: Is this process immoral; Should rights
be restricted; Can abortion be justified; and is this a safe process.

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